Lard Oil Lamp 1935 - 1942

Milton Grubstein made this drawing of a Lard Oil Lamp, we don’t know when, but he lived a long time. The values are all pretty close, but it feels very descriptive. He is using the pencil to describe the surface of the object, he is really trying to render it. I like how he’s captured the solidity of the lamp, but also given us these glimpses of light reflecting off the metal. There's a real attention to detail, especially in the base with those little flower cutouts. You can see how he built up the tones with layers of pencil, almost like he's sculpting the form out of graphite. It reminds me a little of some of the meticulous drawings of everyday objects by Vija Celmins. But where Celmins is cool and detached, Grubstein feels more intimate, like he really loved this lamp. It’s like he’s saying, even the most ordinary things can be beautiful if you really look at them. And art is really about looking.